Foundational Thinkers for the 21st Century

Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, and W. E. B. Du Bois. These individuals, all born in the 19th Century, had a profound effect on society and culture in their own time. Their ideas shaped the unfolding 20th Century and continue to reverberate in our present day. Each seminar will have its own focus, and certainly the perspectives of the faculty—a sociologist, an economist, and a literary scholar—will shape the exploration and discussion within the seminar. As a learning community, students will have the opportunity to explore multiple perspectives and share the deep learning of your seminar with your peers.

Learning Community Coordinator

Your learning community faculty will be assisted by a student "learning community coordinator." The LCC assists the faculty in the planning and coordination of out-of-classroom LC experiences, and works with the learning community students directly to explore the learning community themes.

Sarah Archer-Days is a senior Sociology major with a minor in Italian. While she is from New York City, she has come to love small-town Carlisle. She began her study of both Italian (in a cultural sense) and sociological theory in Professor Pagano’s First Year Seminar: Foundational Thinkers of the 21st Century. Since then, she has used these two disciplines to expand on her personal interests. She has always been interested in media, in its varying forms and complexities. She has found it fascinating to study media and its influence in our world through the lens of both Italian studies and sociological theory.

19th Century Founders of 20th Century Discourse: Marx, Darwin, Freud, and Du Bois

Karl Marx’s critical analyses of capitalism and exploitation, Sigmund Freud’s investigations into the unconscious and our discontent in civilized society, Charles Darwin’s explanations of evolution and species development, and W. E. B. Du Bois’ account of the importance of race in modern life all contributed to changes in the ways in which people lived and thought in the 20th century. In this class we will read and critique selected works from these thinkers in order to better understand their relationships to one another and to the ways in which 20th century history unfolded.

Professor: Dan Schubert, SociologyTime: 12:30 MWF

Founders of Modern Discourse: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud

Marx’s critical analysis of capitalism, Nietzsche’s deconstruction of Christian morality and Freud’s investigations of sexual behavior and neuroses and their connections with the unconscious, represented important stepping stones in the formation of modern consciousness. In this class we will read selected works by these three thinkers, including The Communist Manifesto, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and Totem and Taboo, and see how their ideas influenced our society.

Professor: Tullio Pagano, French and ItalianTime: 11:30 MWF

Marx: Myth or Reality

Few figures in history are as polarizing and as misunderstood as Karl Marx despite his continued influence upon the social sciences and humanities. This seminar will sort through the misconceptions surrounding Marx by engaging with his original works to draw out his lasting insights into the underpinnings of our society and compare them to the portrayal of Marx and his ideas found in popular outlets and academic works today. Emphasis will be given to Marx’s economic thinking, namely his incisive analysis of: how the economy works, the class relationships that permeate society, and the economic crises that we consistently experience. Readings will be selected from The Communist Manifesto, The German Ideology, the Grundrisse, Capital, modern writings in the tradition of Marx, and writers who have taken issue with Marx’s work.